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Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov’s threats against Ukraine following a drone strike echo a 2022 plot to infiltrate Kyiv and target President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a former Ukrainian government official has said.
The leader’s latest threat came after a Ukrainian drone reportedly struck a high-rise building near Kadyrov’s home in Grozny on Nov. 5.
The strike prompted the Chechen strongman to vow retaliation in an online video post, according to Reuters.
“This new threat would just be another assassination threat for Zelenskyy. The Chechens are really serious about revenge,” a former government official told Fox News Digital.
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Head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov smiles prior to Russian-UAE talks on December 6, 2023, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (Getty Images)
“But in Kyiv they are not panicking about this like they were in 2022,” the former official said under condition of anonymity.
“Zelenskyy is now better protected, feels more powerful and is less fragile,” they said.
The recent Ukrainian strike, reported by Reuters, hit the 28-story Grozny-City tower that sits roughly 830 meters from Kadyrov’s home.
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Ramzan Kadyrov is one of Vladimir Putin’s most aggressive enforcers. (Rob Welham/Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Kadyrov, who is loyal to Russia, later allegedly confirmed the attack in a Telegram post, stating there were no casualties, but he condemned the strike as making “no tactical sense.”
He also warned that retaliation was imminent.
“Starting tomorrow and in the course of the week, the Ukrainian fascists will be feeling a stern response,” he threatened.
Unlike Ukraine’s strike, he added, “we will not be making a cowardly strike on peaceful targets,” per Reuters.
Ukrainian attacks have hit sites in Chechnya before now, including a police barracks and a training academy. Chechen units were also deployed during Russia’s 2022 invasion and were among the Kremlin’s most loyal forces.
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Russian and Chechen soldiers in a devastated Mariupol neighborhood close to the Azovstal frontline. (Maximilian Clarke/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
At the time of the 2022 invasion, the official said there was intense anxiety in Kyiv.
“At the beginning of the large-scale invasion in 2022, Chechens were sent to Kyiv to murder top politicians,” the former official said.
“This included Volodymyr Zelenskyy and top politicians from the government and security services and Parliament, and many other agencies.
“Zelenskyy and Yermak were very scared,” they claimed. “They were calling from the office, asking some people in the military and security service to secure the metro station in Kyiv.”
The source said one metro station in Kyiv was a potential infiltration route for the Chechens into Zelenskyy’s presidential bunker.
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Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky gives a press conference in Kyiv on February 26, 2025, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Tetiana Dzhafarova/AFP via Getty Images)
At the time, the station in Kyiv that was deep underground and near the presidential bunker, was viewed as the most vulnerable entry route, the source said.
“They were afraid that Chechens would get to the bunker through this metro station, but in the end the Chechens were killed before they reached Kyiv.
“They tried to reach Kyiv, somehow downtown, somehow via the river, but it’s quite a complicated way to get there,” the former official said.
Meanwhile, with the Nov. 5. Grozny strike landing so close to his home, Kadyrov, already one of Putin’s most aggressive enforcers, is signaling a harsher stance as attacks reach inside Russian territory.
The Moscow Times reported that the drone struck a building that houses regional government offices, including the Chechen Security Council and agencies connected to tourism and religious affairs.
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Despite the rhetoric, the former Ukrainian official claimed Zelenskyy is unfazed this time around.
“These days, Zelenskyy isn’t afraid of Kadyrov’s actions against him or the Ukrainian people. Zelenskyy is feeling very powerful right now,” they added.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Zelenskyy’s office for comment.